


Off Schedule

by chimeriads



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Lots and lots of coffee, M/M, coffee shop au but not quite?, idek what i'm doing, idiots being idiots, ridiculous ties, unapologetic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 22:41:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1795837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimeriads/pseuds/chimeriads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"As a mature adult who paid his bills on time, held down a successful career and owned his own property; Levi was understandably disgusted to discover his heart doing some pathetic clenching swoop like he'd morphed into a teenage girl staring at her date on prom night."</p>
<p>Alternatively, Levi and Eren buy a lot of coffee and Ymir gets tired of watching them dance around each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Off Schedule

**Author's Note:**

> So I apologise in advance because this is all in an attempt to de-rust my writing skills. I got a silly idea in my head and decided to just go for it, even if I have no idea why Ymir snuck in there as much as she did, but I had fun with it, I guess. But I AM sorry to have to do this to you all. 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> please don't look at me.

Levi's morning routine hadn't really changed in the past two years. It was simple, easy and meant he'd never stumbled into work five or ten minutes late, so he'd subsequently seen no point in messing around with it.

His alarm would go off at 6am, giving him a leisurely fifteen minutes to fully regain consciousness and being at least semi-willing to drag himself out of bed when he was supposed to. He'd shower, brush his teeth, and sift his way through his wardrobe for the same suit and tie combination he favoured five days a week. Ignoring the ever growing collection of comedy ties that seemed to find their way into his wardrobe every Christmas-slash-birthday had become second nature as well – Levi liked his ties plain and block coloured, not dotted with cartoon owls proclaiming people should “Trust me, I'm a lawyer” like Hanji seemed to think he should be wearing at least twice a week.

(“It's custom made, just for you!” she'd proclaimed proudly, waving the tie around and smacking the end of it into his face a few too many times to have been entirely accidental. Levi was surprised he hadn't used it to throttle her, but luckily for Hanji, Moblit had been around for some damage control. Both tie, and Hanji had made it out unscathed from the incident, and Hanji had been gently persuaded to leave Levi alone for at least the whole of his lunch break.)

He'd eat breakfast, check over his files and pack his briefcase and be out of the house by 6:50am at the latest. The office was within walking distance, and the exercise coupled with the quiet morning streets was enough to make sure he would at least make it through half the day without snapping at someone over the joys of bureaucratic red tape or huge road blocks suddenly looming out of no where to fuck around with trials, as they were so prone to doing. More importantly though, there was a good coffee shop midway that he liked to stop at just to really make sure he'd make it to lunch time without losing his patience.

It was all familiar, it all worked for him, and none of it had really changed in the past two years. So when he found he wasn't alone on his morning walk any more, Levi had taken notice. Or, had taken as much notice as he could, given the boy's face seemed to be trying to fuse itself with a cardboard coffee mug most of the time. He looked like a student, always seemed to be weighed down with a messenger bag and something like a way too big camera case, and had a perpetual case of bed hair that made Levi want to march over and offer him a comb. Levi didn't acknowledge him, the boy didn't acknowledge anything but his coffee cup and everything was just fine. Until about two weeks after Levi had first spotted him, and the brat took a spectacular miss-step, caught his foot on a tree root and nearly sent the entire contents of his cup flying over Levi's suit.

Some sheer miracle had meant Levi only had to deal with a couple of droplets splattering on his jacket sleeve, instead of all over the front of his clothes, but he'd been pissed off regardless. He'd snapped his head up, ready to tell the to watch his damn step or get off the pavement altogether, until he'd found himself staring at a very apologetic, slightly terrified pair of the biggest, brightest green eyes he'd ever seen.

Somewhere out there, there was a Pantone employee who would probably give up an arm and leg to discover and market that shade of green, Levi was pretty damn sure. Not that he had very long to entertain that though: the boy had obviously taken Levi's silence as an indication that he wasn't about rain vengeance down on him, physically or verbally, because his eyes had softened a little and a tentative, apologetic smile had crept across his lips.

Levi was a 30 year old man with a successful career. He owned his own home, and paid his bills on time like an adult; he was self-sufficient, sorted his recycling and could do his taxes without having to resort to asking a friend for help. So, he was understandably disgusted to discover his heart doing some pathetic clenching swoop like he'd morphed into a teenage girl staring at her date on prom night.

It was only after the smile had dropped off the boy's face, and he'd side stepped around Levi, darting off down the street like someone had lit a firework under his ass that Levi realised some of that self directed disgust _might_ have slipped onto his face.

…

Fuck.

* * *

 

  
“Wow, who pissed in your cereal this morning?”

The morning barista at _Historia's_ coffee shop initially seemed like a perfectly nice twenty-something year old woman. The only issue was she had a habit of opening her mouth and talking, which tended to ruin any illusions people might have about her in one fell swoop. Usually Levi appreciated her brand of no nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is speech, but right now he was trying to get rid of an annoying guilty feeling that had taken up residence in his stomach and refused to go away.

“No one. Just get me my coffee.”

Ymir raised one pointed eyebrow at him, before turning away to start making his usual drink behind the counter. For a blessed moment, Levi thought he'd managed to avoid having to explain why he'd walked in looking like he hadn't shit in the past week, but that was ruined when Ymir called back to him over her shoulder.

“No, seriously. You look like someone stamped on your foot, then ran over it a few times for good measure. I mean, you usually look like you're bordering on pissed off most mornings, but this is taking it to extremes.”

From over at the pastry counter, the blonde owner of the coffee shop shot Ymir a scandalised look and hissed out her name with a warning tone.

“I'm here for the coffee, not to have a heart to heart about why I'm not floating on Cloud-9 this morning.”

Ymir snorted, picking up the press and pouring the contents into one of the cardboard 'to go' cups stacked along the back of the counter.

“I can multi-task. It's like bartenders; we're here to serve you drinks and listen while you whine about the problems in your life to us like we care.” She reached up a hand, and rapped a knuckle against the glass tip jar next to the till, “All in the hopes you'll leave us a nice, big tip.”

Levi just stared at her.

From somewhere still by the pastry counter, Christa pressed a palm to her face and mumbled an apology on Ymir's behalf.

“If I just give you a tip, will you give me my coffee and drop the subject?”

Ymir's grin bordered slightly on the higher side of 'shit-eating', and she held out a hand ( _not_ the one holding his coffee cup, Levi noted) over the counter at him.

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Don't touch me.”

It took a couple more minutes, but eventually Levi left with his coffee and a few hastily bundled together pastries that Christa had insisted he took as an apology for Ymir's attitude. He couldn't really say he minded either of these things.

* * *

 

  
Two weeks later, and Levi morning schedule had been broken for the first time in two years. It was 5:45am, and he was wide awake and staring a little blankly at the morning sun slowly creeping over his ceiling. His mobile phone was discarded somewhere to the right of him on the bed, and he was entirely justified in blaming it (or more specifically, _Hanji_ ) for why he was awake a whole half hour before his usual alarm.

Apparently forensic breakthroughs at dawn were a good enough reason for Hanji to call him and yell down the phone about how the police could finally bring in suspect of the week for questioning, and they'd soon have some solid evidence for the prosecution office to look at and wasn't it exciting?!

It wasn't.

Levi was really starting to wonder if Hanji ever slept. Or if it was possible for a person to fuel themselves on nothing but coffee and the smell of formaldehyde. If anyone could, it was probably her.

The phone call, coupled with the fact Erwin had cheerfully left the task of sifting through the sixty odd internship applications the firm had received that week, along with deciding who should be given the coveted position on his desk, had left Levi a little more stressed than he usually was. Actually choosing who would get the place had been fine – one application had stood out from the start; a 21 year old third year student with a distinctly Japanese sounding name. She had good grades, a solid work ethic and had even done volunteer work at the law firm Petra worked at so getting a recommendation would be easy. He'd just had to sift through tonnes of shit to find that particular diamond, and reading poor application after poor application would take its toll on anyone.

There was also the annoying problem that the boy he'd run into a couple of weeks back still refused to look him in the eye; instead focusing solely on the concrete of the pavement whenever they passed each other, like the cracks and bumps held the answers to the mysteries of life. It was making getting rid of that guilty feeling more difficult than it should be, and the combination of everything was making Levi feel like driving his head into the wall until he passed out.

He glanced at the clock again.

5:50am.

Fuck it.

He'd get up now, and get to _Historia's_ early. Treat himself to breakfast there or something; if anyone had earned a freshly baked croissant right about now, it was him.

* * *

 

  
_Historia's_ opened fairly early, compared to most coffee shops in the area. Probably to take advantage of people like himself, blearily seeking a cup of coffee to improve their disgustingly early start to the day. Despite this though, Levi was used to being the only person in the shop when he got his morning coffee, and he hadn't expected it to be any different today now he was arriving fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.

So he was a little surprised to see someone stood at the counter, chatting a little agitatedly with Ymir as she made up his drink.

“Just drop it, Ymir.”

“No way. You've been looking progressively more and more mopey as the week's gone on. I thought you were supposed to be all giddy and excited over this part-time gig you've got, not wallowing around like your pet just died.”

“I said it's nothing! Look... can you just give my mocha? I'm running late as it is.”

“Don't lie. You're here at the exactly the same time you always are, and you've never been complaining about being late before. Seriously, what got you so-- oh, hey.”

Ymir's eyes flickered to the door as Levi shut it behind him, flicking at hand at him in something like a greeting.

“You're here early. Gimme a minute to deal with whiny here, and I'll get your drink going.”

He didn't really acknowledge her, because the figure at the counter had turned around to see who was at the entrance and Levi found himself looking at those stupidly green eyes again. The fact his heart does that clenching, swooping thing again is still as embarrassingly pathetic as it was the first time, but this time Levi doesn't let anything show on his face.

The boy just stares at him like a rabbit caught in headlights, ignoring Ymir's attempts to pass him his drink until she physically opens and closes his hand around the cup. Levi finds he has just enough time to slowly incline his head in a small nod at the boy (like he's dealing with a startled baby mammal instead of young man what the hell is he even doing any more?), before he goes bright red, throws a handful of change on the counter and darts past him onto the street; coffee cup still clutched in his hand where Ymir had forced it a moment ago.

From behind the counter, Ymir stares at the door, then at Levi. She repeats the motion, before a decidedly worrying grin crosses her face.

“Oh.”

Levi decides that forgoing his coffee this morning is a fair price to avoid having to deal with whatever put that particular smile on Ymir's face.

* * *

 

  
“His name is Eren.”

Levi looks down from where he'd been craning his neck to read the new drinks menu proudly displayed over the counter where it boasted a number of brand new, limited seasonal drinks options. After a moment, he raises an eyebrow.

“Ehh-ren,” Ymir repeats, dragging the first syllable out a little as she watches the water in the kettle start to boil. Apparently, avoiding the coffee shop for a couple of days had done nothing to erase the grin on Ymir's face, so Levi had opted for sucking it up and dealing with it in favour of getting his caffeine fix.

“He's 21 years old. Studies arts and photography at the local Uni. He's got some part time deal taking photos for a local food magazine for the next couple of months, otherwise he usually doesn't show up here until mid-morning.” Ymir turns her head slightly to look at him.

“He's kinda loud, and hard headed, but he's a good guy. Christa and I have known him since high school.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Ymir turns around fully and give him a look like he's stupid. Levi ignores it an goes back to staring at the menu board again. He stares even harder when Ymir lets out a fully self-suffering, world weary sigh; only looking down again when he hears the sound of coffee being poured into a cup.

“He gets here about fifteen minutes before you do, usually. Always gets a mocha, with an extra pump of chocolate syrup.”

“Again, why are you--”

Ymir sets the cup down and flashes him _that_ grin again.

“No reason.”

* * *

 

  
The next day, Levi finds himself at _Historia's_ twenty minutes ahead of schedule. He ignores Ymir throughout the entire transaction, especially when he orders a mocha with extra syrup as well as his usual americano and leaves it sat on the counter after paying for it. The sooner he's in and out of there, the less time he has to really question what his life has become and how he made the choices to lead it down this path.

He is, however, surprised when he comes in the next day and finds a still-hot cup of americano sat waiting for him on the counter; a little note tucked under the warm cardboard that reads 'Thanks' with a little smiley face. He stares at it for a bit, before pocketing the note and taking the coffee, ignoring the amused snort he hears from behind the counter as he does.

* * *

 

  
It starts something of a cycle. He sets his alarm a little earlier the next day, and leaves behind another mocha and a scribbled 'You're welcome' on a note tucked under the cup.

He is rewarded the next day with another cup of coffee waiting for him on the counter when he enters the shop. Another note is tucked under the cup, wishing him a good day, and he finally decides to give up on feeling embarrassed for himself at the flutters his heart keeps doing. No one needs to know he's apparently becoming a teenage girl trapped in the body of an adult man, and as far as he's concerned no one _will_ know. Ever.

The cycle repeats for a couple more days, and Ymir looks a little more annoyed which each passing day. Levi does a good job of ignore the pointed eye rolls and frowns she gives him until she finally speaks up nearly a week into this little game of back and forth she'd inadvertently started.

“Y'know, when I heavily implied you should buy him a drink, I meant do it once so that he'd stop moping around like a sad, doe eyed animal at the counter every morning, and so that you might stop walking through the door looking like you want to choke someone.” She almost looks a little put out, or would if she didn't look so annoyed, “I didn't give you permission to turn this place into your own personal little love note forum.”

When Levi doesn't reply, she picks up one of the pastries tucked on a plate under the till and does a good job of grinding part of the crust into flaking crumbs that litter the counter. Levi closes his eyes, and does his best to not focus on the fact she is making a mess of the nice clean counter.

It's surprisingly difficult.

“It's getting pathetic. He was here at opening, for crissakes. You keep this up and Christa might suggest we start opening even earlier. For some unknown reason, she seems to think this is adorable.”

At the continued lack of response, Ymir shakes her head and swoops the pastry crumbs off the counter onto the floor in one swoop. Levi grinds his teeth, shoves his free hand in his jacket pocket and turns to leave the shop, his free coffee cradled in his right hand before he does something like dive over the counter and grab the cleaning cloth. It's quicker, but not exactly _easier_ , to just leave Ymir staring grumpily at the counter as he goes; it wasn't his problem her grand plan had backfired on her.

* * *

 

  
It becomes his problem, however, when he walks into _Historia's_ two days later to find he isn't the only customer.

“Ymir, come on, don't be an ass about this.”

There's a vaguely pleading tone to Eren's voice, one that becomes clear when Levi enters the shop properly. Eren is half leant over the counter, trying to grab at the two coffee cups Ymir is holding hostage just out of his reach. Behind her, Christa is hovering like she isn't entirely sure if she should intervene or let things play out as they currently were. Ignoring all this, Levi takes a moment to study the particular angle Eren has managed to bend himself into over that counter a little more appreciatively than is probably decent at six o'clock in the morning, until he's aware of eyes staring very pointedly at him. When he looks up, Ymir is staring right at him with something like victory sparking in her eyes, and a couple of seconds later Eren's own slightly panicked eyes follow her gaze right to the doorway.

The squeaking sound he makes is a little weird, but kind of adorable all the same.

“Um. Hi.”

There's just enough time for Levi to nod in Eren's direction, before Ymir slams the coffees down on the counter.

“Right. Now you're both here, let's get this pathetic dancing around sorted.” She points at Eren, and then at Levi. “You are going to sit down and drink your coffees together. You're both here something stupid like an hour earlier than you used to get here, so don't try and tell me you can't because you're 'running late' or something. Go wild, have a proper conversation. Talk about work, home life, marrying, having kids; whatever you need to do to stop making me get out of bed half an hour earlier than usual to make sure I'm equipped enough to deal with one of you being here _before opening_ just to leave silly notes on my counter.”

Eren mumbles something about the notes not being silly, but trails off when Ymir glares at him.

“It's gotten old, and it's getting really desperate and sad. So do something about it before I start denying you both service until you get your shit together.”

Both of them gawk at her for a couple of moments, before Christa pipes up hesitantly that their drinks are on the house together, provided they do as Ymir asks. Levi doesn't miss the softer, grateful look Ymir sends her, and it doesn't really take him too long to weigh up his options.

Walking over to the counter, he grabs the cup Ymir holds out to him and turns to give Eren a measured stare. Chat with the brat that makes his heart do the pathetic clenching thing, and get a free drink on top of that, or refuse and get cut off completely.

It's a no-brainer, really.

“Come on then, brat. I don't have all day,” he says, finally, zeroing in on a small table tucked away in the corner of the shop.

A couple of seconds later, he hears the sound of footsteps following him, and he feels something that had been tightening around his chest without him even realising loosen slightly in relief.

* * *

 

  
It wasn't an especially intellectual conversation. Nor was it the best conversation or company Levi had ever had. But it was good, and enjoyable despite the initial awkwardness Eren had been hell bent on fitting in until he'd calmed down a little.

In the end, it must have gone well for both of them, because he leaves the coffee shop – ignoring the grin and none too subtle thumbs up Ymir blatantly gives them from her perch at the counter – feeling a little more awake than he had been when he entered the shop that morning, and with a phone number hastily scribbled on a scrap of paper now safely tucked in his jacket pocket.

All in all, it hadn't been so bad, messing with his schedule like this for a while.


	2. On Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, okay. I... think I like this? I don't know. A couple of people wanted a sequel, or more in this particular setting and for a long time I wasn't planning on doing anything more with it?
> 
> And then I got an idea, and I thought "well, let's see what happens" and this is the result. I had fun writing it, but I'm not sure about the end result. It's more of a drabble than a second chapter, just to tie up loose ends that... probably weren't there but I imagined them anyway. Set about three years after the end of the main story. 
> 
> It's unbeta'd, so apologies in advance for inevitable errors. 
> 
> (Also, as a side note, I did read all the comments and they filled me with giddy joy. But I'm never sure what to say in reply to them... I just roll around clutching my face and yelling instead. Thank you all so much.)
> 
> [pops a party popper and leaves]

On Time

 

 

A string of photos hung behind the counter at _Historia's_. They'd been taken like polaroids, and were hanging from threads of multicoloured string from little wooden pegs, criss crossing from each side of the wall to the other. Right in the middle of the display, someone had pinned a slightly crumpled foil sign – silver, with bright, shiny red writing that proudly proclaimed the words “Just Married” at their centre.

 

Levi sipped slowly at his coffee, comfortably nestled at a table to one side of the counter. His eyes moved from picture to picture languidly, taking in every detail fully. There was something about Eren's photographs that seemed to draw people to them. Over the past half hour he'd been tucked away in what he'd come to think of as 'his' corner of the café he'd counted at least fifteen people who'd lingered at the counter just to look at the photos for a little while longer. They were simple, and uncomplicated, but perfect for capturing the joy of the moment they were meant to display. Really, Eren should think about taking this wedding photographer thing a little further but every time the conversation came up, he would just shrug a little helplessly. Eren liked variety in his photographs – landscapes on one job, neat displays of food on the next, and the sharing the joy of a person's special event on another. Their apartment was littered with piles – _neat_ piles, Levi was the one who made sure they were stacked and put away carefully each day – of thick black backing card, and various sizes of photo frames. Perfectly framed images of the river Seine against the backdrop of a Parisian sunset hung on their walls next to notice boards littered with cheap, slightly dog-eared shots of Eren and his friends on their final night out before graduation three years ago and candid shots of Levi huddled up in his coat, _Historia's_ mug clutched in one hand. Eren lived and breathed his livelihood with a passion that Levi could never imagine summoning for paperwork and long days in court.

 

The picture nearest Levi's seat was probably the best one, as far as he was concerned. The camera had gone off at exactly the right moment to catch the soft look of adoration in Ymir's eyes as she looked down at the petite woman in her grasp. The smile on Christa's face had been radiant and delighted as she took her first dance with her wife. Levi had stared at it for a few moments more, before his attention was grabbed by the screech of chair legs against stone floor. Eren's coffee cup slid onto the table before Eren himself sat down properly, and there was a tentative silence for a couple of moments while he prised the lid off the cup and tore open an extra sachet of sugar to pour into the contents. Levi hadn't, and quite frankly still _didn't_ , see the point of him ordering a straight up americano if all he was going to do was add those flavoured syrup shots and even more sugar to it afterwards. Eren hadn't bothered to explain – he'd just told Levi he “wouldn't get it” and had added another pump of gingerbread syrup to the cup the first time he'd ordered it in Levi's presence.

 

Eren nibbled on his bottom lip a little nervously; teeth tugging at a loose bit of skin, exposing a sliver of fresh pink skin underneath it that Levi found difficult to tear his eyes away from.

 

“Well?”

 

Levi sighed, and took another sip of his drink, finally pulling his eyes away from that little strip of skin he just kind of wanted to run his tongue across, really.

 

“We go through this every time, Eren.”

 

“Yeah but... this time it's important.” Eren's nails picked nervously at the plastic lid on the table, his eyes staring unwaveringly at Levi from across the tale. “More important than other times.” In some ways, it was true. The more personal a photograph, the better it had to be. At least, that seemed to the motto Eren went by. Levi had lost count of the number of times he'd been forced to redo holiday photographs over and over until Eren was satisfied with the result.

 

These weren't holiday photographs though. These were his friend's wedding photographs, and maybe Levi could empathise the tiniest bit with why Eren looked so nervous.

 

“They look fine.”

 

“Just fine?”

 

Levi shot his most withering look over the top of his cup. Eren bit his lip again.

 

“If you wanted an art critic's opinion you should've asked your old professor or something. But in my own personal, _philistine_ \--” and Eren's face lit up into a nervous, but blindingly bright smile and that was exactly the reaction he'd been hoping for, “-- opinion, you have nothing to worry about.” A pause, and a sip of coffee. “I'd say the row of people holding up the queue to get a better look at them speaks volumes more than I could anyway.”

 

Eren turned around in his seat, propping his elbows against the back of his chair. The queue at the counter had only grown since Eren had entered the shop – it was lunch time, or close enough to it that there was a crowd starting to form. Cranky, tired business people hankering for cups of strong coffee; chattering female students ordering sweet, milky coffees or fruity iced beverages with smiles like sunlight; older pensioners with bony hands and slightly pursed lips ordering warming, subtle flavoured teas and offering fond upward curls of their pinched lips as the baristas handed them their drink. Every one of them paused at the collection counter, staring at the bright, warm photographs and admiring the happy moments they'd captured. The reactions of the customers may have varied – from unbothered, unblinking stares, to sugar sweet cooing, or confused frowns, but that wasn't the point.

 

They were all stopping to look and admire Eren's work, and that was the important thing. Slowly, Eren turned back to look at Levi. His smile was an uncertain little thing, but it was soft and warm. Levi felt his chest clench once, painfully, and exhaled a heavy rush of warm air from his nose.

 

“You see?”

 

“I guess.” Eren's hands squeezing around the cardboard cup in his hands a little too tightly, before picking it up and taking a long sip of the liquid. “I don't know... I just really needed everything to be perfect with these photos. It's of a really important day, you know?” His smile widened a little, and he shrugged “For important people.”

 

Levi knew.

 

They fell into silence for a couple of minutes, watching the people coming and going from the counter. Some moving to take seats around the café, others dashing out the door, coffee cup in hand. It was almost a comfortable silence. _Almost_. But not quite. The way Eren watched him out of the corner of his eye, tensing whenever he moved, and the way _Levi_ watched Eren whenever he stopped watching him as if he were waiting for something had them both on edge.

 

The silence lasted just a little longer, before Eren's natural impatience got the better of him, and he turned to face Levi again. His eyes were nervous, but sincere, and as much as Levi wanted to put this talk off just a little longer he owed it to Eren to listen.

 

“Hey, um... about the other day.”

 

Fights weren't anything new in their relationship. They fought at least once a day; sometimes over mundane things, like whose turn it was to take out the rubbish. Sometimes it was over more major things. Arguments that ended with one of them storming out of the their apartment to go and stay with a friend until their tempers had cooled and they could talk things over like the adults they pretended to be. Their most recent fight, three days ago, had ended a little differently. Eren had stormed out of the apartment, and gone to Mikasa's until he was ready to return, but it had been the first time Levi had seen him leave out of sadness rather than barely controlled anger.

 

It had been established early on that they both held very different views when it came to marriage. Levi had never seen the point or purpose to it – why did they need a piece of paper to tell the world they were a couple? They didn't need to spend thousands of pounds on a ceremony to show everyone what they already knew. Eren on the other hand had been a photographer at enough weddings to fall in love with the idea of them – he saw the good and the bad; the ridiculous and the ridiculously classy, but he also always shot the moment that the couples said “I do”. He saw the gentle, candid moments between the newly weds and catalogued them for everyone to see whenever they wanted.

 

It had been established early on that Eren really wanted to get married, while Levi didn't.

 

At first they'd ignored the elephant in the room. Too happy with their relationship as it was to really consider much past moving in together and sharing the same living space. Eventually though, after a couple of years had trickled by, the big question had popped up once or twice. Levi had dodged, and Eren had pursued and it had all cumulated into one rather explosive argument three nights ago that had ended with Eren out of the apartment for the foreseeable future and Levi bearing a few sleepless nights as he went over and over the question Eren had asked and what he really wanted from it.

 

Levi's answer was plain and simple – right in front of him, watching him with big green eyes full of nerves and apprehension.

 

He'd called Hanji that morning, and she'd dragged him out of his apartment for the first time since the argument. She'd worn her lab coat, and her hands were stained with questionable chemicals as per usual, but she'd been a welcome comfort for once. She'd talked to him in her usual blunt manner, forcing him to confront what he wanted and what he was going to do about it. She'd ended their meeting by calling Eren's mobile and dropping the ringing phone into Levi's waiting hands.

 

They'd ended up here, technically where it had all began. Levi was staring the question right in the face and for the first time he actually had an answer for it. Eren watched him like a hawk as he reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a small jewellery box. His eyes widened as Levi pushed it across the small, round table towards him, before they shot up to pin Levi with a cautiously hopeful stare.

 

“It's not an engagement ring.”

 

Eren deflated a little, shoulders sagging. Levi felt his lips twitch down with guilt, but pressed on anyway.

 

“I still think marriage is a load of bullshit. I don't want to pay thousands to tell people what they already know, just to validate our relationship in the eyes of bunch of bureaucrats who don't give a shit about us or our relationship.” Eren's face had twisted into a disappointed frown, and Levi could see the anger brewing up in his eyes. He took a deep breath and reined himself in – Eren had told him once that, for a lawyer, he was shit with words. In a courtroom, his blunt, no nonsense style of speech worked in his favour, throwing people off their game with his lack of word play or overly complicated descriptors. Right here, right now though, it wasn't helping him at all.

 

“Open the box already, will you?”

 

He ignored Eren's sharp glare, but kept watching as he pulled the box towards him and opened it. He watched the confusion spread across Eren's face as he pulled the simple white gold ring out of the box, letting it rest on his palm.

 

“You said--”

 

“And it's not.” Levi leant forward, resting his elbows on the table, and drummed his fingernails on the polished wood. “Look. You piss me off at least twice a week, if not more. You leave your fucking photography supplies all over the living room, you work ridiculous hours getting your albums put together and then crash around the bedroom at three o-fucking-clock in the morning and wake me up. You can't cook to save your life despite spending _how_ many months working with _chefs_ on their _cookbooks_ , and you can barely tell one end of a duster from the other.”

 

Eren's hand had clenched around the ring, and for a moment Levi wondered if he was going to throw it at him. He reached out and grabbed Eren's hand with his own, just in case.

 

“Somehow, despite all that, I still fucking love you, kid.” The anger in Eren's face slowly melted away, replacing itself with a bright blush across his cheekbones, “And I don't plan on ditching you any time in the foreseeable rest of my life. That's enough for me.”

 

He leaned back in his chair, and felt a surprising burst of affection when Eren leant forwards to make sure he didn't lose his grip on Eren's hand.

 

“Who knows. Maybe ten years down the line you'll talk me round. Maybe ten years down the line I'll have won the damn lottery and we can blow millions on some trashy, overly swanky wedding for the ages. Until then though, that's all I can offer you.” There was a pause, in which he felt rather than saw Eren uncurl his hand against to look at the ring, “Think of it like a promise, I guess. I'm not going anywhere if you're not. Do you accept that?”

 

Eren didn't say anything. His eyes were fixed onto the ring in his palm. Around them, the café continued to bustle – couples came and went, teenagers crowded around the counter, giggling and smiling at the photos on the wall and subtly admiring the barista making their drinks when his back was turned. Behind him, he could hear the rustle of book pages as someone used their time here to catch up on their reading. To his left, someone's phone rang out some bubbly pop tune, cutting off midway through the chorus in favour of a droning conversation instead. He wondered, briefly, if this was how Eren had felt when he'd waited for Levi's answer the other day. He wonder again how and why anyone put themselves through this sort of shit.

 

Eren picked up the ring from his palm, and lifted it up to the light. Unintentionally, that fear he was going to throw it came back to Levi, and he relished the relief that settled through him when Eren simply lowered his hand and placed the ring onto his ring finger with a contented grin. It was warm, and relaxed. For the first time since their argument the other day, the air between them felt peaceful. Like they were on the same page again.

 

“I do.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> ollies out of here pronto. 
> 
> also, yes. the successful intern is who you think it is.


End file.
